Last Australian Victim of Tsunami Disaster Identified

Efforts by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to locate and identify the body of every Australian victim of the Boxing Day Tsunami disaster have ended following a final positive identification, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer, and the Minister for Justice and Customs, Senator Chris Ellison, announced today. This brings to a close what has been a period of great anxiety and uncertainty for the families and loved ones of the 26 Australians who died as a result of the tsunami.

The last Australian victim was officially identified in Phuket on Friday 19 August. The man was a 50-year-old Australian citizen living in Phuket.

The tsunami resulted in an unprecedented operation to locate Australians missing in its aftermath. We and other countries faced an enormous challenge to identify those missing from over 2,800 people who died in the tsunami in Thailand. This process has been a model of international cooperation involving more than 600 people from 30 countries under the able leadership of Thailand. There are still more than 1,600 remains yet to be identified.

Despite all Australians now being identified, the AFP will continue to have a presence in Phuket. The Australian Government and the AFP remain fully committed to the DVI process until the end of December this year.

The Australian contingent has 13 staff consisting of Australian Police Officers, Odontologists and a Biologist still deployed in Thailand.

The Australian Government commended the efforts of the AFP, the state and territory police officers who contributed to the DVI teams and the national database agency CrimTrac which was deployed to provide assistance with the DNA database. We also commend the efforts of those involved in providing assistance to the victims and their families from Emergency Management Australia, Centrelink and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Inquiries: Mr Downer's office - 02 62777 500 - Senator Ellison’s office - 02 6277 7260